EPA waste data release 25 Nov. 2021. Latest reference year 2019 (Data subject to Eurostat validation)
Municipal waste is made up of household waste and commercial waste that is similar to household waste. The EPA reports data on how much municipal waste is generated and how it is treated.
In 2019, Ireland generated 3.1 million tonnes of municipal waste and recycled 37 per cent of it.
In our everyday lives we produce a general mix of waste in our homes, offices, schools and similar premises. This type of waste is called municipal waste. It is usually collected at kerbside or we can bring it to collection centres. The amount of municipal waste generated in our country is an important measure of how wasteful our everyday lives are.
Municipal Waste includes these following waste types:
1 As prescribed by Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/1004
Table 1. Municipal waste generated, managed and treated
Treatment type | Recovery code(s) | 2012 (tonnes) | 2014 (tonnes) | 2016 (tonnes) | 2017 (tonnes) | 2018 (tonnes) | 2019 (tonnes) |
Recycling | R2-R11 | 984,704 | 1,043,190 | 1,125,124 | 1,118,196 | 1,096,776 | 1,152,553 |
Incineration / energy recovery | R1 | 427,093 | 893,030 | 810,612 | 880,849 | 1,243,310 | 1,412,589 |
Other recovery | Backfilling | 38,914 | 102,376 | 71,686 | 101,615 | 107,048 | 0 |
Total recovery | 1,450,711 | 2,038,596 | 2,007,422 | 2,100,660 | 2,447,133 | 2,565,142 | |
Treatment type | Disposal code(s) | 2012 (tonnes) | 2014 (tonnes) | 2016 (tonnes) | 2017 (tonnes) | 2018 (tonnes) | 2019 (tonnes) |
Incineration / disposal | D10 | 49 | 92 | 72 | 0 | 45 | 255 |
Landfill / disposal | D1-D7, D12 | 1,027,577 | 536,530 | 710,805 | 622,882 | 418,029 | 471,594 |
Total disposal | 1,027,626 | 536,621 | 710,877 | 622,882 | 418,074 | 471,849 | |
Total municipal waste managed | 2,478,337 | 2,575,218 | 2,718,299 | 2,723,543 | 2,865,207 | 3,036,991 | |
Total municipal waste generated (generated = managed + estimate household unmanaged waste) (see note) | 2,692,537 | 2,619,023 | 2,763,167 | 2,768,043 | 2,912,353 | 3,085,652 | |
Note: The methodology for estimating household unmanaged waste was revised for 2014 reference year. | |||||||
2012 | 2014 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | ||
% Recovery (of generated) | 54% | 78% | 73% | 76% | 84% | 83% | |
% Recycling (of generated) | 37% | 40% | 41% | 40% | 38% | 37% | |
% Disposal (of generated) | 38% | 20% | 26% | 23% | 14% | 15% |
Open in Excel: Table 1. Municipal 2019 (XLS 19KB)
Open in CSV : Table 1 Municipal 2019 (CSV 1KB)Table 2 Municipal waste generated by origin
2019 | 2018 | |
Waste generated by households (tonnes) | 1,619,102 | 1,559,423 |
Waste generated by other sources (tonnes) | 1,466,550 | 1,352,930 |
Total (tonnes) | 3,085,652 | 2,912,353 |
Open in Excel: Table 2. Municipal 2019 (XLS 9KB)
Table 3. Municipal waste generated by type of waste
2019 | 2018 | |
Household and similar waste (tonnes) | 2,389,766 | 2,352,766 |
Bulky waste (tonnes) | 640,891 | 507,205 |
Waste electrical and electronic equipment (tonnes) | 54,995 | 52,382 |
Total (tonnes) | 3,085,652 | 2,912,353 |
Open in Excel: Table 3. Municipal 2019 (XLS 9KB)
Table 4. Export of municipal waste
Total (t) | Recycled (t) | Composted (t) | Incineration with Energy Recovery (R1) (t) | Backfill (t) | Landfill (D1-7, D12) (t) | Incineration on land (D10) (t) | |
2019 | 1,242,697 | 700,992 | 89,842 | 447,310 | 0 | 4,298 | 255 |
2018 | 1,022,476 | 654,225 | 74,709 | 287,249 | 338 | 5,911 | 45 |
Open in Excel: Table 4. Municipal 2019 (XLS 17KB)
Ireland’s recycling rate for municipal waste has not improved significantly between 2012 and 2019 and is below future EU municipal waste recycling targets. To improve municipal waste recycling percentages and reach future EU targets, we need to
This will also reduce our emissions and use of raw materials.
The EPA submits municipal waste data for Ireland to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, as part of the annual OECD/Eurostat Joint Questionnaire. The data are submitted in Q3-4 of the reference year +2 (i.e. 2019 data were collected and processed in 2020 and will be submitted to Eurostat in Q4 2021). Following validation by Eurostat, official statistics for Ireland and all Member States are published on the Eurostat website as part of the ‘Municipal waste by waste management operations’ dataset [env_wasmun]: https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=env_wasmun&lang=en Data on municipal waste recycling rates for Member States are published at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/cei_wm011/default/table?lang=en
More information about how the EPA compiles and reports Official European Waste Statistics is available here.